Farley: I put in for my pension

The Republican state senator from Niskayuna submitted retirement papers earlier this month, allowing him to leave the state payroll and start collecting a pension. After 46 years in various government jobs — including 32 years, and counting, as a state senator — he’s entitled to $52,000 a year.

But Farley, 80, retired knowing he’s been re-hired: state law treats his current gig as a legislator as one that re-ups every two years. He fully expects to take office, again, in January and continue in office thereafter. This activity has been criticized as unfair to taxpayers, but Farley said it’s the only way he can guarantee retirement income for his wife.

“I took the option that my wife will get the same amount, should I pass away,” he said. “I think it’s unfair in the law that if you die in service, your spouse doesn’t get your pension.”

Other lawmakers, including retiring Assemblyman Jack McEneny, D-Albany, have done the same thing. Farley noted McEneny’s decision, and said Sen. Bill Larkin, a Hudson Valley Republican, and Lt. Gov. Robert Duffy, a former Rochester police chief, do the same thing.

Farley is paid $79,500 a year for his work as a senator and an additional $15,000 for chairing the chamber’s Banks Committee. He said he plans to continue taking the money, which he earns.

And there is a bright spot: “The state will be saving money because they don’t have to pay into the pension system any more.”